Daylight robbery of $43,000 jewellery

Huge loss: Shopkeeper Tan and his daughter looking at the display shelves smashed by the robber at their shop in Pekan Baru Changlun.

PHOTO: The Star/ANN

CHANGLUN - Two masked robbers armed with a pump-gun and hammer stormed into a jewellery shop in Pekan Baru Changlun and escaped with seven trays of jewellery worth about RM130,000 (S$43,160) in a daring daylight robbery here. The incident occurred at about noon in Jalan Kodiang.

The duo, wearing ski-mask, believed to be in their 30s and 40s, stormed into the shop and took less than three minutes to complete their act in front of dozens of passers-by.

The robber armed with the hammer smashed the display cabinets before taking away the trays. One of the robbers fired a shot into the air before escaping in a car.

The owner's children, aged 28 and 31, were in the shop during the incident. The owner, identified as Tan, in his 60s, said he was at the back of the shop when he heard loud voices of men.

"I came out to the display area and saw a man armed with a gun while another was in the midst of filling up a bag with jewellery after smashing the glass display cabinets. My children and I ran to the back and pressed the emergency button to trigger the alarm system," he said.

"Thank God we were not injured during the robbery," said Tan, who has operating the jewellery shop there for more than 20 years.

State CID Chief Asst Comm Mohd Nashir Ya said police believed the firearm used in the robbery was a pump gun.